It seems every time we turn on the news or go online we see headlines about another major security breach, including those that occurred relatively recently to a number of popular retailers, like Target and Home Depot. What is the common denominator among those affected by successful cyber-attacks? According to investigators, in almost every single case the problem can be traced back to a lack of proactive cyber security incident response.

Yet despite the fact that countless articles and news reports have indicated this as the root problem, many organizations are still not taking the appropriate measures to protect themselves, their customers and their stakeholders. There are a number of reasons why, but the most common ones seem to be:

They believe their current protection is adequate. Many in IT leadership mistakenly believe that the plan they already have in place is capable of thwarting any would-be attacks. The problem is, most of these existing plans only include preventative measures, such as malware. As the entire world continues to learn from the many successful breaches, this simply isn’t enough to get the job done. Cyber security incident response that involves identifying, verifying, prioritizing, automated resolution and appropriate notification/escalation of incoming alerts is essential.

They don’t believe it could happen to them. Some companies feel that because they happen to be smaller or not operating in the more heavily targeted industries, they aren’t at risk. This is simply not true. Others – particularly those in Europe – feel that they aren’t as targeted as much as businesses in other countries, like the US. The fact is, the only reason more breaches are reported in the United States is because the government mandates it. There are the same or possibly even more incidents occurring in countries all across the globe.

They don’t understand the real damage a successful attack can have. Many highly intelligent IT professionals have blinders on when it comes to the topic of cyber-attacks. It’s important to note that all organizations, even those who do not have to worry about sensitive client data, have valuable assets that could prove to be disastrous if they fall into the wrong hands. For instance, internal employee information and even trade secrets could be stolen if the company is not properly protected.

For these reasons (and countless more), many organizations fail to recognize the importance and overall value of a quality incident response plan. If you’re reading this and happen to fall into this category, let’s take a closer look at some of the many benefits of adopting and implementing an automated cyber security incident response strategy for your business.

Reduce downtime. What impact would an entire system shut-down have on your business? One thing is for certain, the longer it takes to bring things back up and running, the worse the consequences will be. By managing incidents more effectively, issues can be responded to faster, ultimately reducing the amount of downtime your organization will have to face.

Improve recovery time. Just as important as bringing systems back up and running is the task of rolling out a recovery plan. It only stands to reason that the more downtime an organization experiences, the more extensive the potential damage. Because quality incident response lets you address issues right away, the time and resources it takes to fully recover are limited.

Stay ahead of problems. With the right cyber security incident response plan (preferably one that involves automation), your company can take a more proactive approach to handling potential security breaches. This can mean preventing downtime altogether and protecting precious assets in the process.

Ultimately, the key to success extends well beyond knowing these benefits and even rolling out a plan. It takes ongoing testing to ensure that the pistons in place are firing on all cylinders, and at all times. This will further protect your organization from incoming threats and place you one step ahead of the problems that are plaguing others all across the globe.

With new, more sophisticated cyber-attacks being hatched almost daily, and the volume of threats increasing at an alarming rate, there’s never been a more important time to invest in strong cyber security incident response. It starts with a combination of prevention and automation to ensure a closed-loop process. This will vastly reduce the risk of things slipping through the cracks and keep your business protected over the long-term.

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About the Author

Gabby Nizri, Co-Founder, CEO of Ayehu
With nearly 20 years’ experience in technology innovation, Gabby is the driving force behind Ayehu. His multidisciplinary background in product engineering, sales and professional services brings together key elements necessary to deliver the company’s IT process automation solution that has proven to be a force multiplier for businesses facing operational IT and cyber security challenges. Since co-founding the company, Gabby has advanced his thought leadership in IT automation and been dedicated to setting the company on a path to strong growth and validation. The Ayehu platform continues to earn accolades from customers, partners and industry experts including Gartner, Red Herring and Deloitte. Prior to founding Ayehu, Gabby held various operational and management positions at successful Israeli technology enterprises including Infogate Online Ltd, Webmaster and Walla Communications Ltd.

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Ayehu is the IT Automation and Orchestration platform built for the Digital Era. Powered by machine learning algorithms, it acts as a force multiplier for IT operations, security operations, managed service providers (MSPs) and managed security service providers (MSSPs). Customers can significantly save time on manual and repetitive tasks, respond to incidents with pinpoint accuracy, accelerate mean time to resolution, and maintain greater control over IT infrastructure.